10/10/2000 @ 4:13PM

Forbes Faces: Michael Schumacher

In the United States, Formula One automobile racing is usually relegated to the eighth or ninth page of the sports section, sandwiched somewhere between the local racetrack results and rifle advertisements.

In Europe, on the other hand, grand prix victories are greeted with ringing church bells, celebrations in the street and triumphant declarations from heads of state.

That, at least, is what happened October 8 in Italy after Germany’s
Michael Schumacher
Michael
Schumacher
won the Formula One title, becoming the first driver on the Ferrari team to win a championship since 1979. Schumacher clinched the crown after finishing first at the Japanese Grand Prix by 1.8 seconds.

Schumacher’s elation at the victory rivaled that of the millions of Italians who watched the contest on television. “It’s difficult to find proper words for such feelings,” the overcome 31-year-old said, according to Reuters. Ferrari’s president called Sunday the best day of his life and telephoned Schumacher immediately after the race to congratulate him before the driver got drunk and “out of [his] head.”

Schumacher has reason to celebrate. Last year, he earned an estimated $49 million, more than
Michael Jordan
Michael
Jordan
($40 million),
Tiger Woods
Tiger
Woods
($47 million) and NASCAR racer
Dale Earnhardt
Dale
Earnhardt
($26.5 million). His $35 million annual salary is larger than any other athlete in the world. Advertisers want every piece of him: A German investment firm agreed to shell out $8 million over three years to have him wear a four-inch ad on the baseball cap he wears before and after races.

Although making more money than Jordan and Woods carries with it superhuman expectations, Schumacher has performed, well, superhumanly. After having won two previous world titles with the Benetton racing team, he is just two championships shy of the all-time record, held by
Juan-Manuel Fangio
Juan-Manuel
Fangio
of Argentina. The German has triumphed in 43 races during his career, second only to France’s Alain Prost, who won 51.

And unlike Jordan or Woods, Schumacher puts his life in danger every time he competes. Past greats, including French Canadian
Gilles Villenueve
Gilles
Villenueve
and Brazil’s
Ayrton Senna
Ayrton
Senna
, have died on the racetrack. A look at the numbers from the Japanese Grand Prix attests to the risks: During the approximately hour-and-a-half race, Schumacher traveled 193 miles, most of them in the rain, and averaged about 130 mph. And unlike the Indy circuit, where cars travel at faster speeds around oval speedways, the tracks for Formula One races have deadly curves.

On October 8, however, “Schumi,” as his fans affectionately refer to him, was invincible. Father Alberto Bernardoni, pastor of a Catholic church in Maranello, Italy, where Ferraris are made, was presiding over a mass when Schumacher sped to victory.

“We tried to pray well and, of course, Michael tried to race well,” said Bernardoni, whose church bells christened the victory after the Mass. “I’m really very happy. What a joy!”